Draft-gear for freight-cars



(No Model.)

A. LIPSOHUTZ DRAFT GEAR FOR FREIGHT GARS.

No 578,109 Patented Mar. 2, 1897.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICEY- ARTHUR LIPSCHUTZ, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DRAFT-G EAR FOR FREIGHT-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 578,109, dated March 2, 1897.

Application filed July 17, 1896. Serial No. 599,562. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR LIPSCHUTZ, a native of Germany, but having made oath of my intention to become a citizen of the United States,residin g at No. 178 La Salle avenue, Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a newrand useful Draft- Gear for Freight-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in continuous-draft-gear rigging; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to afford means to avoid the elongation of the draftrods by stretching; second, to secure a constr uction whereby the Wear or breakage of the draw-bar through the strain at ,the draft-key is avoided, and, third, to get, when the car is pulled on one end, action also of the spring on the pulled end, and not only at the far end. I attain these objects by the construction of a draft-gear rigging illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section of the draft arrangement on one end of the car, and Fig. 2 atop View of the same.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throu ghout the views.

The draw-bar a is the regular Master Car- Builders standard draw-head, andhas bolted to it the spring-pocket b by bolts 0. The draw-bar is supported by the carrier-iron Z, fastened to the bufier-block, and also by strap m, which fastens to the bottom side of the draw-bar stop-casting n. Draft-key d, instead of passing, as usually in the continuousdraft arrangement, through an opening in the shank of the draw-bar, has here no direct connection with the'draW-bar a at all, but is placed between the two springs s and f.

The draft-timbers e e are cut out for the draft-key, and connection with the draft-rods ff is made in the usual way.

g, h, i, and kare the spring-followers, handt' being made of a single piece and so as to allow the draft-key d to pass between them, Fig. 1.

If the draw-bar a is pulled, follower 7c is moved by the spring-yoke b to the left side and compresses spring t, which in turn forces, by pressing on follower i, the draft-key d to the left side and pulls the draft-rods f f, thereby forcing on the other end of the car,

follower h 1', and thereby compressing also.

spring 25 and forcing follower k to its seat against the draw-bar stop-casting n.

In the continuous-draft gear as usually arranged the draw-bar at one end of the car is rigidly connected with the draw-bar at the which is not shown in the drawings, the draftother end by means of the draft-keys and draft-rods, and as there is therefore practically no slack in a whole train of cars having' the old continuous-draft gear, and as there is no spring action till the last car in the train has commenced moving, it is readily to be seen that in my improved continuousdraft arrangement, where springs are interposed and act between draw-bar and draftkey, no more stretching of the rods will take place; furthermore, no special form of a drawbar with shank expressly shaped to take the draft-key is necessary, and action is had in a pulling strain from springs at both ends of the car, and there being slack between cars an engine will be enabled to start a heavier train than possible with cars having the continuousdraft arrangement in use prior to my invention.

For cars having only one spring in the spring-pocket instead of the two shown in drawings it is only necessary to shorten the yoke 19 and omit spring 3, while the same advantages result from this one-spring draft arrangement as before with the two-spring draft shown in drawings, that is, when the draw-bar is pulled the draw-bar spring t will be compressed against the draft-key, and pulling the draft-rods will'compress the spring at the other end and force its follower against the draw-bar stop. Thereby, as before, at a pull on the draw-bar the spring at each end of the car comes in action. At a push at the draw-bar a followert'will compress the drawbar spring t and force its follower to the seat against the draw-bar stop-casting n.

I am aware that prior to my invention continuous-draft gear with draft-keys and draftrods and with one or two spring drafts have been in use. I therefore do not claim such a combination broadly; but

hat I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A continuous-draft appliance consisting of a draw-bar, a spring strap or yoke secured to the draw-bar, a draft-key independent of the draw-bar and laterally extended through the spring strap or yoke, draft-rods respectively secured to the ends of the draft-key and springs on each side of the draft-key.

2. A contin nous-draft appliance consisting of a draw-bar, a spring strap or yoke secured to the draw-bar, a draft-key, a twin follower through which the draft-key passes, springs disposed on either side of the draft-key and bearing against the twin follower and draftrods secured to the ends of the draft-key.

3. In a continuous-draft appliance consisting of a draw-bar, a spring strap or yoke secured to the draw-bar, a draft-key independent of the draw-bar and laterally extended through the spring strap or yoke, draft-rods respectively secured to the ends of the draftkey and springs on each side of the draft-key together with a follower and a stop or stops engaging the follower to limit the traverse of the draw-bar.

4E. A continuous-d raft appliance consisting of a draw-bar, a spring strap or yoke secured to the draw-bar, a draft-key independent of the draw-bar, longitudinally -extended sills having slots therein through which the draftkey passes and in which said key has its movement independent of the draw-bar, draft-rods secured to the ends of the draft-key and a spring or springs acted upon by the draft-key and spring-yoke.

5. A continuous-draft appliance consisting of a draw-bar, a spring strap or yoke secured to the draw-bar, a draft-key independent of the draw-bar and laterally extended centrally through the spring-yoke, a twin follower through which the draft-key passes, a pair of springs, one on each side of the twin follower, the one ends of which springs bear against said twin followers and followers within the end portions of the spring-yoke against which the other ends of the springs bear.

ARTHUR LIPSCI'IUTZ.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK L. ZEBLER, GEO. WEINERT. 

